World Juniors Recap for January 3, 2013

Karlis Ozolins would put Latvia on the board first at 1:26 of the opening period. Andrej Bires would tie it up for Slovakia at 14:03. Tomas Mikus would put Slovakia into a 2-1 lead at just 54 seconds into the second. Marko Dano would put them up 3-1 at 13:19 while on the powerplay. Nikita Jevpalovs would pull Latvia to within one goal at 5:14 of the third, and Edgars Kulda would tie it up at 3-3 at 10:22. Bires would break the tie to give Slovakia the 4-3 lead at 14:35, and Dano would put in an empty netter at 19:47. Slovakia was outshot 40-27 by Latvia.

Semifinal Game #1: Canada vs. United States

Jake McCabe would put the Americans up 1-0 at 7:18 of the opening period, and added another at 16:02 to make it 2-0. Johnny Gaudreau would make the score 3-0 over Canada at 2:58 of the second. Jim Vesey would make it 4-0 for the Americans at 12:44. Ty Rattie would get Canada on the board on a controversial shorthanded goal at 4:03 of the third period, but it would prove to be the only goal of the game for the Canadian side as Gaudreau would score his second of the game to restore the four-goal lead. The U.S. defeats Canada 5-1 and outshot them 42-34. The Americans advance to the Gold Medal Game while Canada is relegated to play for Bronze.

Semifinal Game #2: Sweden vs. Russia

Elias Lindholm gets Sweden up 1-0 at 6:35 of the opening period, while on the powerplay. Filip Forsberg would make it 2-0 at 9:38. Andrei Mironov would get Russia on the board at 7:32 of the second. Mikhail Grigorenko would tie the game up at 2-2 at 7:56 of the third period. The game would need overtime, which did not result in a winner, so a shootout was needed. Four rounds were required as the first three rounds did not result in anyone scoring. In Round 4, Sebastian Collverg would score meaning Russia needed to answer. They do not and Sweden advances to the Gold Medal Game in a 3-2 shootout victory. Final shots were 41-29 Sweden. Russia plays for Bronze.

The Gold Medal Game will feature Sweden (looking for back-to-back Gold medals and their third overall) and the United States (two-time Gold medalists (2004 and 2010, both over Canada)). The Bronze Medal Game will feature Canada and Russia.